Popular hot hatch going five-cylinder! VW Golf to score Audi RS3 power as swansong before the Toyota Corolla GR and Honda Civic Type R rival goes hybrid - report

Volkswagen is reportedly planning to lob the five-cylinder engine from sibling brand Audi’s RS3 into its halo hot hatch, the VW Golf R.

The plan involves the 25th anniversary of the VW Golf R being marked with a special edition powered by the Audi RS3’s turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine, Autocar reports.

The UK outlet says the RS3-powered Golf R should arrive in 2027, though hasn’t quoted a source. It’s expected the five-pot hot hatch will be the most powerful Golf yet.

This means it would need to outgun the current Golf R that makes 245kW thanks to a wicked-up version of Volkswagen’s omnipresent EA888 turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine.

In the RS3, Audi’s EA855 five-cylinder makes 294kW of power and 500Nm of torque, but Autocar has previously been told by former Managing Director of Audi Sport Sebastian Grams there’s more to be wrung out of the engine.

If it comes to fruition, it won’t be the first time VW has slotted a bigger engine into the Golf.

During the model’s third generation in the 1990s, the Golf VR6 became somewhat of an oddity in the hot hatch world with a six-cylinder engine living under the bonnet. 

The Mk3 VR6’s engine, a 2.8-litre narrow-V that straddled the line between V6 and inline-six, was followed by a 3.2-litre version of the engine in the fourth-generation Golf’s R32 variant in 2002.

It’s the Mk4 Golf R32 that Volkswagen will be marking 25 years since with the introduction of its five-cylinder Golf R in 2027.